If you were part of the fight for health care, treat yourself this article. There’s no question. You moved mountains.
‘Costello described the health care fight as the most “intense” experience of his brief political career, “period.”’ https://t.co/6BfTGkyymM
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) March 28, 2018
For our lives, the lives of our loved ones, and those of strangers we’ll never meet. Because it’s the right thing to do, of course. But also, to WIN!
Jim Newell at Slate:
…Costello, a 41-year-old serving in only his second term, announced over the weekend that he will not run for re-election. What would have been a challenging race became near-impossible when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court redrew the state’s congressional lines, turning the state’s 6th Congressional District from an R+2 to a D+2 seat, and one that Hillary Clinton would have won by 10 percentage points in the 2016 election. Costello has called for the Pennsylvania judges behind the new map to be impeached.…
Costello described the health care fight as the most “intense” experience of his brief political career, “period.” He remembered being one of the 15 or so members who would decide the fate of the House GOP health care bill and “getting it from all angles.” (He voted against it.) When you’re serving in a swing district in this environment, he said, “you have to know every single issue, and why you’re voting the way that you are, and to be able to explain it. Because you will get asked about it by everyone.”
“The way that these bots work”—“B-O-T-S,” he spelled it out to me, presumably referring to those deluging him with talking points—“and these Indivisible people, it’s not like they think for themself, they’re just told what to say,” he said. “They’ll take what some other expert told them to say, like Topher Spiro, or whatever that guy’s name is.” That is indeed the name of the excitable Center for American Progress policy fellow who built up quite the Twitter presence during the health care fight by imploring his followers to flood congressional phone lines.
“It’s not as though the criticisms or questions are illegitimate, but you are on the spot for answering them,” Costello said. “And so you have to be very well-prepared, and you just have to accept that no matter what you say, it’s not going to be good enough, the next criticism’s going to come at you. Which is fine.”…
“People in any district, but especially in [suburban] districts, they want to know that their member of Congress is looking out for them, not for any particular party,” he said. “It could be trying to get EPA funding for the remediation site, it could be a public transportation project. It could be forcefully fighting for DACA, or pushing back against getting out of the Paris accord. Or trying to stabilize the health insurance marketplace.” …
These ‘bots’, or constituents — whatever — they want me to act like I represent THEM! They aren’t content that I’ve learned all my lines and made a very good on-camera presentation, they want me to WORK, not just ACT! It’s as though I was being paid to represent… them!
No wonder the poor bastid looks so stunned; he feels his efforts have somehow been misrepresented.
SFAW
In which language is “Costello” the word for “fucking snowflake”?
efgoldman
Imagine that, boobeleh.
WHY THE FUCK DID YOU RUN IN THE FIRST PLACE? DO YOU EVEN KNOW?
lamh36
Repost cause everyone should be able to see it.
With that, I’m out…off to bed I go…I’m way tired!
Peace out BJ!
Mart
Here a bot, there a bot, everywhere a bot – bot.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I find myself kind of hoping the Republicans in the Pennsylvania legislature really do impeach the judges who set the new map. I know a lot of people think the old map was fair and right and the way things should be, but a whole lot more know cheating when they see it.
Omnes Omnibus
@lamh36: Again, thank you.
burnspbesq
“When we die, we will die with our arms unbound.”
https://youtu.be/oLSOzcEQjiE
efgoldman
1) I’ll run away. This is tooooo hhhaaaaarrrrrd
b) Any politician who wants to impeach judges over adverse decisions hadn’t ever opened the constitution and is lowerthan whale shit.
burnspbesq
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Fookin’ daft, you are. How do you imagine that playing out?
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@burnspbesq:
I don’t know. There’s a reason Donny Dollhands is stuck at 35%.
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
As I said below, I love the voice she has now.
Omnes Omnibus
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): How is that a winning hand?
Gin & Tonic
If you can’t take a punch, dude, you shouldn’t be in the ring.
Amir Khalid
@efgoldman:
Isn’t it obvious? Costello, as a good Republican, puts his party before the people; and he ran so the people would not have a Representative who put them first.
Mike J
Hey, he’s in an entry level job, how is he supposed to know what he’s doing? Why don’t you teach him?
mai naem mobile
Lemme get the tiniest violin out and play it for him. He ran in an R – 2 district. What the fuck was he expecting?
Ohio Mom
You want to hear someone regurgitate stale talking points, just call your Republican congressperson’s office. Those interns are incapable of an original thought.
efgoldman
@mai naem mobile:
That gerrymandering would keep the seat his in perpetuity.
Steve in the ATL
@efgoldman: nailed it!
Gin & Tonic
@Ohio Mom:
Sorry (not sorry) but I don’t have one.
BCHS Class of 1980
@efgoldman: What gets me is that the way he did it pretty much screwed the PA GOP. He must have given up on any career (including lobbyist) as a Republican.
efgoldman
@Steve in the ATL:
They don’t even try to win on policies any more. Their own constituents hate them.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ohio Mom: I don’t ask them. I call and I tell them my opinion. And then I say my money, my work, and my vote will follow my opinion. I have one asshole Senator. The other is Tammy Baldwin and my Rep is Mark Pocan. They need and deserve the frequent I got your back calls.
khead
I know this is supposed to be an upbeat thread, but I just want to vent.
Mrs. Khead is now looking for another job. Back in January, we talked to her employer – part time – who assured us it was ok that she was taking time off for some MAJOR surgery. “Take care of yourself” is what they said. Then. Of course, once they realized that Mrs. Khead would actually be taking ALL of the 6 weeks that the doctor ordered her to take, the employer started ghosting her. Then, on the day before she was supposed to return, she got a call informing her that she was being let go. You might think that kind of shit is illegal – but it ain’t. At least not in Maryland.
So, why do we fight? Because of the fucking bullshit that happened to Mrs. Khead and many others. That’s why.
Jinchi
Literally every one of those issues is a liberal one. The Democrats support it, the Republicans oppose it. But sure, other than that, they don’t prefer any particular party.
Mike in NC
@SFAW: I grew up in Boston and knew a lot of Costellos. I simply assumed they were Italians (me being Irish and Scottish).
Aardvark Cheeselog
The pitfall of gerrymandering the living shit out of every single district is that you turn safe seats into marginal ones. If your demographics change before the next redistricting, you can fuck yourself hard that way. Or if you really piss off your opposition while demoralizing some of your supporters. It’s like a textbook study in how to turn your opponent’s wave into a tsunami.
dmsilev
@Jinchi: But the GOP managed to cut taxes for really rich folks. Surely that has to count for something, right?
Aardvark Cheeselog
@efgoldman:
> lowerthan whale shit
I saw that and thought “whoever wrote that is an old.” Then I looked at who it was.
Mnemosyne
@Mike in NC:
Costello is an Irish name. Legend had it that it came from sailors who washed ashore after the Spanish Armada was vanquished and decided to stay, but apparently it’s older than that and a perfectly cromulent name in Gaelic.
Omnes Omnibus
@khead: Go and talk to a labor lawyer.
Yutsano
@Jinchi: Sshhh! You’ll spoil the ending!
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Elvis didn’t pick it because it was Italian.
SFAW
@Mnemosyne:
Thanks for the genealogy/history lesson.
Maybe you should change your nym/nom to Mnem O’Syne? Well, I guess that would have been more appropriate 10 days ago, but still …
Duane
If Costello sees a tumbrel coming his way he should run away.
hellslittlestangel
The fight over health care in 2010 was indeed intense. Good thing for Costello that he didn’t take office until 2014.
SFAW
@Duane:
Brave, brave Sir
RobinRyanOf course, your comment also makes me think of the opening stanza of “Highway 61.”
khead
@Omnes Omnibus:
Been there, done that. I wouldn’t have brought it up here if I could get a lawyer to take the case.
Of course, if there is an interested lawyer here at BJ? Get at me.
Jay
@Mnemosyne:
It’s older than that, dates to the Anglo Norman invasion, of 1172,
Roots in Norman d’Angulo, gaelic Ostealb, then Hostilo, then anglicised to Costello.
GregB
@hellslittlestangel:
I think he is referring to the repeal and replace clusterfuck.
Omnes Omnibus
@khead: I am not a labor lawyer.
Mary G
NotMax
No sympathy for this devil.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@lamh36: Tying together two apparently disparate subjects from today:
There was some discussion earlier today of a crackpot email that somebody received.
Back in Usenet days, physicist John Baez famously published a Crackpot Index by which such screeds could be objectively scored.
John is, I believe, a cousin to Joan.
But her emails!!!
@Aardvark Cheeselog:
That’s not how these gerrymanders work. They make a lot of safe Republican seats and a smaller number of massively Democratic districts. I think there was an analysis reported recently that in order to take Congress, Democrats needed something like a 13% margin and that’s including the Pennsylvania seats as redone. They need 20+% to actually break the gerrymander to the point that Republicans no longer hold a disproportionate number of seats relative to total votes.
frosty
@But her emails!!!: I read an analysis that said it was an 11% margin. Either way, we’d better get to work.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
on MSNBC, I just watched Gee Dumbya implicitly compare himself/Iraq to FDR/WWII in his eulogy for Zell Miller, who was a real statesman for jumping parties to support Bush and his war in ’04
Bubba also spoke, and I don’t think he’s doing too well
khead
@Omnes Omnibus:
Heh. Might be a few folks around here who are a glutton for punishment. You never know. I mean, it’s Balloon Juice. There has to be a jackal lawyer around here somewhere.
smike
@GregB: That was my thought, as well. I think he’s just pissed that sometimes, like when people’s healthcare is concerned, they start paying attention and become involved. If he thinks he new constituents are going to actually show up at the polls, he’s outta there.
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well, that can’t be true, because we all know that Hillary was personally responsible for the war in Iraq. It had nothing to do with the Republicans at all. //
But her emails!!!
@frosty: It’s probably the same thing. My memory isn’t infallible.
Jay
@But her emails!!!:
“The worst offenders: Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. In each of these states, the Democratic Party could “increase its vote share by 10 or even 20% without gaining a single extra seat,” the report said.
Nationally, Democrats would need to win by an 11-point margin to retake the House, Li said. That threshold hasn’t been reached since 1982, when Democrats won the House by 12 points amid Ronald Reagan’s election to the presidency. ”
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/452878002
“Still, the report doesn’t account for a number of factors, such as incumbency, third-party candidates, shifting demographics, turnout and scandalous behavior. And the number of retirements in the House could make it easier for Democrats to win seats.”
It’s not however a District by District study, but instead, State “overviews”. In Red States, Republican’s have gone for “heavy gerrmandering”, clustering all the Rethugs together, and isolating Democrats in enclaves, giving themselves as an example, 5 out of 6 seats. The “Blue Wave” will have little impact.
In Purple States, the Republican’s have mostly gone for “Medium” gerrymandering, based on their Tea Party results, where for every 3 or so Rethug voters, there’s 1 or two Democrat voters, and areas of solid One Party support, are “hard” Gerrymandered. This gives the Dem’s 2 solid seats, for example, the Rethug’s get 2 solid seats, but the other 4 rely on Tea Party level turn out. In a Blue Wave, in theory, Democrats take 6.
The general rule of thumb right now, is there are too many “if”s.
If the Democratic Party voters perform as they have in the Special Elections so far, the House turns blue.
Mary G
I just got blocked by Charlie Kirk on Twitter! My first block ever! So happy!
efgoldman
@Mary G:
A nice California lady like you? In tennis shoes, no doubt?
Gretchen
Pretty amazing. His constituents want him to make their lives better and do things that are good for their community? What on earth did he think he was sent to Congress to do? I really want to know? I thought they had to at least pretend to represent their constituent’s interests, but he doesn’t even seem to be there.
Mary G
@efgoldman: Barefoot, baby, this is a beach town.
Gretchen
@Mary G: Congratulations!
Yarrow
@Mary G: What did you say that got him to block you?
jl
We, who were about to die, except people like Topher Spiro got everyone’s asses in gear to shoot down Trumpcare, salute you Rep. Costello. Have a happy and successful very very very private life after you run away from Congress.
Anyone who followed Spiro got great data and analysis, and this mook babbles about bots (B-O-T-S).
That interview is like an Onion article. Show us on the doll where democracy touched you, Rep. Costello.
Corner Stone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Bubba looked, and sounded, like shit. I was shocked, even though I probably should not be.
efgoldman
@Yarrow:
Probably “for a good time, go to Balloon Juice, you yutz”
Corner Stone
@Mary G:
Oooo, I love it when you talk sandy to me. Oh, wait. No I don’t. I hate the idea of sand being tracked everywhere.
jl
@Gretchen: He figured it would be like Boehner’s racket back in the halcyon days. At least Boehner managed to throw in the towel with good humor when the jig was up. Zip-a-dy-doo-da, zip-a-dy-ay, my, my, what a wonderful day!
frosty
@But her emails!!!:
Heh. Lot of that going around these days.
Mary G
@Yarrow: He said Planned Parenthood donated $7.8 million to candidates and murdered babies, while the NRA spends $3,2 million, killed no one & other twaddle. I said had his numbers wrong and sent him a link to Fortune Magazine showing they spent approx. $30 million, ~$20 million for Twitler and ~$11 million against HRC. He sent me a gif of a baby slapping its head & a link to Open Secrets for 2018 showing they’ve spent about $1 million this year. I said he had the year wrong and tweeted him the page from his own site same where they spent $54 million total on the 2016 election on “outside spending” plus more to candidates. Then he blocked me and all the tweets disappeared.
Yarrow
@Mary G: Congratulations! That’s real determination in the face of complete idiocy. Well done.
hervevillechaizelounge
F@Corner Stone:
If Bubba looks bad we know there’s only one person to blame; I wonder why Hillary took so long to add him to the Clinton body count? She’s probably poisoning him slowly for maximum chortles;)
smike
@hervevillechaizelounge: Alex Jones Alert!!1!!!11!
JR
He actually has a point re: the nationalization of congressional politics. I regard it as a problem, too.
rikyrah
@efgoldman:
Truth
jackmac
@lamh36: President Obama’s 2015 eulogy of the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney. Afterwards clergy called him Reverend President. If you never watched the whole thing, you’ll see why. God, I so miss that man, especially compared to the s**t stain now residing in the Oval Office.
@lamh36: @lamh36: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDXMoO9ABFE